Wednesday, August 27, 2014

I now want to call your attention to another major prophetic voice that God has called to warn our nation — namely, Erwin Lutzer, the Pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois.

He has been speaking out strongly and fearlessly for several years, unafraid of whose toes he might step on.

As examples of what he is saying to our nation, I would point you to two sources in particular. One is a sermon of his that you can find on the church's website. It is titled, "America's Spiritual Crisis." The other is an outstanding book that was published in 2010. It is titled, "When a Nation Forgets God: 7 Lessons We Must Learn From Nazi Germany."

In his sermon, Lutzer begins by going directly for the jugular, by providing a no-holds-barred definition of the problem:

Despite its foundational Christian heritage, America is rapidly degenerating into a godless society. The Church in America, although highly visible and active, appears powerless to redirect the rushing secular currents. Mired in moral and spiritual crisis, America's only hope is a national revival, like God has graciously bestowed in the past.

He proceeds to emphasize the way in which our leaders are doing everything they can to erase God from America's consciousness.

The powers in America today... have chosen a path of rejecting God and His ways. Federal courts have interpreted our constitution as requiring that the Bible, prayer and religious discussion be removed from classrooms, community buildings and places of public gatherings. Government officials and educators across the country are systematically eliminating any vestiges of God from society. Militant secularists will not be satisfied until God is expunged from every fact of American life.

As for Christianity in particularly, Lutzer declares that "society is becoming openly hostile to Christian values." In this regard, he points out that "the media trivializes and ridicules Christianity in the name of humanistic and pluralistic concerns." Commenting further on the influence of the media, he writes:

American culture is dominated by television and movies, whose profanity and lewdness tramp God's honor into the mud, inculcating non-Christian values from infancy. Public schools teach our children how to practice various forms of immorality. One school curriculum in America teaches acceptance of homosexuality in the first grade and mutual masturbation in junior high... America is reaping the dire consequences of rejecting God. Our society is morally bankrupt, and the problems seem resistant to government cures.

As a pastor, Lutzer is particularly concerned about the waning influence of the Church. He declares:

The Church in America, despite its many activities and apparent successfulness, has had no measurable affect in reversing the downward spiral... Sadly, the influence has been in the wrong direction, as we see evidence that our culture has begun to permeate our churches. The Church is seduced by the social agenda of wealth and pleasure, and has condoned sinful compromises.

In the fourth part of this series on Hitler's Nightmare, Erwin Lutzer outlines seven lessons he believes Americans need to learn from Nazi Germany.